Toy and model vehicles



26, 1969 R. T. PERRYMAN ETAL 3,462,878

TOY AND MODEL. VEHICLES Filed Nov. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 26,1969 R. T. PERRYMAN ET AL TOY AND MODEL VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledNov. 15. 1966 & n

w \m. a

United States Patent 3,462,878 TOY AND MODEL VEHICLES Ronald ThomasPerryman and Frederick Noel Rix, Essex, England, assignors to LesneyProducts & Co. Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Nov.15, 1966, Ser. No. 594,482 Claims priority, application Great Britain,Nov. 19, 1965, 49,235/ 65 Int. Cl. A6311 17/38, 17/00 U.S. Cl. 46-401 8Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy land vehicle having a chassisand at least two wheel-carrying axles supported in the chassis. One ofthe axles is angularly displaceable about a point located approimatelycentrally of its own length and in a plane extending substantiallyparallel to the general plane of the chassis. The toy vehicle alsoincludes a manually operable adjusting device engaging the angularlydisplaceable axle in such a way that its own setting determines theangular setting of such axle about said point and thereby the angularsettings of the wheels carried by such axle relative to the remainder ofthe vehicle.

This invention relates to toy and model vehicles all of which, for thesake of brevity, will hereinafter be referred to as toy" vehicles.

One object of the invention is to provide a simple form of steering fortoy land vehicles which steering may, if desired, be preselectable incharacter.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a cheaply producabletoy land vehicle which has a form of steering acceptable to youngchildren together with a resilient suspension.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the samemay be carried into eifect, reference will now be made, by way ofexample, to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view of a toy car constructed in accordance withthe invention, the section being taken on the line I-I of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view corresponding to FIGURE 1 but with certain upperparts of the toy removed,

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line III-HI of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section containing the longitudinal axis of analternative form of toy car in accordance with the invention, and

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the chassis or base of the toy of FIGURE 4and shows various steering and suspension parts of the latter.

Referring to FIGURES 1 to 3 of the drawing, the toy land vehicle whichis illustrated is a car having a body 1 made from die cast metal, achassis or base 2 made from die cast metal and a rear axle 3 havingrotatable wheels 4 mounted at its opposite ends. Details of theconstruction and arrangement of the body 1 are not relevant to thepresent invention and, therefore, no further description of that partwill be given.

The rear axle 3 of the car is inserted through holes formed in lugs 5that project upwardly from opposite lateral edge ribs 16 of the chassisor base 2. The toy has a similar front axle 6 with wheels 7, similar tothe wheels 4, rotatably mounted at its opposite ends. A central regionof the front axle 6 is inserted between two pins 8 that projectperpendicularly upwards from the chassis or base 2 immediately in front,and to the rear, respectively, of said axle. The two pins 8 are parallelto one another and are spaced apart by a distance a little in excess ofthe 3,462,878 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 cross-sectional diameter of theaxle 6. Opposite end regions of the axle 6 pass through slots 9 formedin profiled lugs 10 that project upwardly from the chassis or base 2.

It can be seen from FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawing that the front axle6, together with the wheels 7, is angularly displaceable about a pointlocated approximately centrally of its own length and midway between thetwo pins 8. The axle 6 can be turned about said point in either of theopposite directions indicated by the arrows A and B in FIGURE 2 of thedrawing, the opposite front and rear ends of the slots 9 limiting suchturning movements to a range in which the wheels 7 will not interferewith parts of the body 1 or chassis or base 2, and the upper and loweredges of the slots 9 ensuring that the angular displacement about saidpoint takes place in a plane extending substantially parallel to thegeneral plane of the chassis or base 2.

The toy includes manually operable adjusting means that mayconveniently, but not essentially, be formed of a single piece from asynthetic plastic material. The adjusting means is generally indicatedby the reference numeral 11 in the drawing and includes an archedaxleengaging portion 12 that can be seen best in FIGURE 1 of thedrawing. In order to allow for the angular adjustment of the front axle6, the arch of said portion 12, through which a region of the axle 6close to one of the profiled lugs 10 is inserted, is of slightly greaterwidth than the cross-sectional diameter of the axle. A block 13 projectsdownwardly from the body 1 and has its lowermost end in engagement withthe upper side of the portion 12 in such a way that said portion canmove forwardly and rearwardly of the toy in a direction parallel to thegeneral plane of the chassis or base 2 but cannot move transversely ofthat direction.

The adjusting means 11 has a connecting portion 14 which extendslongitudinally of the toy at one lateral side thereof and the leadingend of which is integral with, or fastened to, the arched portion 12. Ascan be seen best in FIGURE 2 of the drawing, the connecting portion 14is sandwiched between a longitudinal rib 15 projecting upwardly from thechassis or base 2 and one of the aforementioned edge ribs 16.

At its rearmost end, the connecting portion 14 is integral with, orsecured to, an operating portion 17 which includes a handle 18 thatprojects laterally of the body 1 through a slot (not illustrated) formedtherein. The chassis or base 2 is also formed with a longiutdinallyextending slot 19 immediately beneath the operating portion 17 and aprojection 20 of said portion 17 which is of inverted T-shapedcross-section has its upright entered through the slot 19 with itscross-bar overlapping opposite edges of the latter. This allows theoperating portion 17 to move forwardly and rearwardly of the toy in adirection parallel'to the general plane of the chassis or base 2 butprevents it from moving transversely of said direction. The rearmost endof the slot 19 opens into a circular hole 21 through which theprojection 20 can be initially entered to engage it with the slot 19. Ascan be seen in FIGURE 2, the slot 19 and hole 21 together have a keyholeconfiguration.

It will be evident from FIGURE 2 of the drawing and the precedingdescription that, if the projecting handle 18 is moved in the directionindicated by the arrow C in that figure, the arched portion 12 whichengages the front axle 6 will move in like direction so that the frontaxle 6 and its wheels 7 will be angularly adjusted about theaforementioned point in the direction indicated by the arrow A. The toycar will thus steer to the left. Similarly, upon moving the handle 18forwardly of the toy in the direction indicated by the arrow D in FIG-URE 2, the axle 6 and wheels 7 will be angularly displaced in thedirection B and the toy car will steer to the right. As previouslymentioned, it is preferred that the adjusting means 11 should be formedfrom a synthetic plastic material. That part of said material whichforms the projection 20 may frictionally engage the opposite edges ofthe slot 19 in such a way that there is an appreciable degree ofopposition to movement of the handle 18 in the directions C and D. Thus,if this construction is employed, the frictional opposition to movementof the adjusting means 11 tends to maintain the front axle 6 in theangular setting which it is occupying at any given moment so that thesteering is preselectable in character.

FIGURES 4 and of the drawing show a toy car which is generally similarto the toy already described with reference to FIGURES 1 to 3.Accordingly, those parts that are equivalent to parts that havepreviously been described are indicated by the reference numerals thathave already been employed and will not be described further. Theprincipal feature by which the toy of FIGURES 4 and 5 differs from thatof FIGURES l to 3 is that it is provided with a resilient suspension.The lugs 5 are formed with vertically extending slots 22 through whichthe rear axle 3 passes. It will be evident from FIG- URE 4 of thedrawing that the slots 9 in the profiled lugs 10, through which thefront axle 6 is inserted have a similar vertical extent to the slots 22.

A suspension strip 23 formed from a resilient synthetic plasticmaterial, which may, as illustrated, be transparent, extendslongitudinally of the toy car immediately above the chassis or base 2.The strip 23 is formed centrally with an aperture 24 which cooperateswith a dowel 30 projecting upwardly from the chassis or base 2. Thedowel 30 is peened over to secure the strip 23 to it after being passedthrough the aperture 24. A region of the strip 23 that surrounds theaperture 24 cooperates supportingly with an oval projection 25 on thebase of an insert 26 of the toy that is moulded or otherwise formed torepresent the seats and other parts of the car which the toy simulates.It is not necessary for the purposes of the present invention todescribed the insert 26 in detail. The strip 23 is formed symmetricallyfore and aft of the aperture 24 with raised opposite end platforms 27and lateral cutouts 28. The strip 23 can thus be fitted with either endat the front. The pins 8 lie between a pair of vertical plates 31depending from the leading end platform 27 while a short guide rib 29which serves the same purpose as the preivously described but longerguide rib 15 is disposed in the foremost cutout 28. A similar guide rib32 abuts against the edge of the suspension strip 23 opposite theleading cutout 28. With the construction of FIGURES 4 and 5, thepreviously described block 13 is unnecessary since the lower surface ofthe leading platform 27 performs the same function.

In the use of the toy car, a central region of the strip 23 whichincludes the aperture 24 is maintained in contact with the chassis orbase 2 by the dowel 30', the strip 23 and projection 25 cooperating withone another in such a way that the insert 26 cannot become displacedfrom the position thereof which is illustrated in the drawing to anyappreciable extent. As previously mentioned, the strip 23 is of aresilient construction which is such that the part thereof between theplatforms 27 tends to maintain a uniplanar configuration. The lowermostedges of the plates 31 bear against central regions of the front andrear axles -6 and 3 respectively and urge said axles towards the chassisor base 2. However, upon exerted manual pressure upon the toy in adownward direction, one or other or both of the axles 3 and 6 will bedisplaced upwardly in the slots 22 and/or 9 against the resilientopposition of the strip 23. A realistic resilient suspension etfect isthus achieved, the uppermost extremities of the slots 22 and 9 definingthe furthest points to which the axles 3 and 6 can be deflected awayfrom the chassis or base 2. The strip 23 cannot turn about the dowel 30due to the provision of the guide ribs 29 and 32. It will be evidentfrom the preceding description and from the drawing that the handle 18can be employed in exactly the same way as described with reference toFIG- URES 1 to 3 to preselect the direction of steering of the toy car.It will be noted that the arched portion 12 of the adjusting means 11 isof sufiicient height to enable the region of the front axle 6 which isinserted therethrough to move vertically to the uppermost end of thecorresponding slot 9. A block (not illustrated) projects downwardly fromthe insert 26 immediately to the rear of the operating portion 17 of themeans 11 to prevent the insert from pressing on said portion 17 and toassist in preventing excessive rearward movement thereof. The blockcontacts the chassis or base 2.

Toys of the kind which have been described are intended principally foruse by young children so that, in general, there is no disadvantage inthe fact that the projecting handle 18 and primitive form of steering ofthe front wheels 7 detracts from the realistic appearance of the toy.The invention is applicable to toys having more than two wheel-carryingaxles and other forms of adjusting means may be employed. For example,the handle 18 may be replaced to a finger wheel connected to a pinionwhose teeth are adapted to move a rack that carries the arched portion12 forwardly and rearwardly of the toy. However, the construction whichhas been described is preferred since it enables small-scale toys to begiven preselectable steering in a manner acceptable to young chlidrenwithout any great increase in the cost of production of such toys.

We claim:

1. A toy land vehicle having a chassis and at least two wheel-carryingaxles supported in said chassis, one of said axles being angularlydisplaceable about a point located approximately centrally of its ownlength and in a plane extending substantially parallel to the generalplane of the chassis, said toy vehicle comprising manually operableadjusting means engaging said one of the axles and being settable todetermine the angular setting of said one axle about said point andthereby the angular setting of the wheels carried by said one axlerelative to the remainder of the toy vehicle, said manually operableadjusting means comprising an arched portion engaging said one axlebetween said point and one of its ends, a connecting portion and anoperating portion which has a handle projecting laterally of the toyvehicle, the operating portion including a downward projection ofinverted T-shaped cross-section with an upright passing through a slotprovided in said chassis and extending longitudinally of the chassis.

2. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the manually operableadjusting means is formed in one piece from a synthetic plasticmaterial.

3. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slot is defined insuch a way that one end thereof is enlarged so that the cross-bar ofsaid T-shaped projection can be initially entered therethrough.

4. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said downward projectionengages the slot frictionally in such a way that the manually operableadjusting means tends to remain in any setting dictated by priormanipulation of said handle.

5. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said point is defined bytwo pins that are spaced apart from one another longitudinally of thetoy vehicle by a distance a little in excess of the diameter of said oneof the axles.

6. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1, including a resilient suspensionbetween said axles and said chassis.

7. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 6, wherein the suspension comprisesa resilient strip that extends longitudinally of the toy vehicle.

8. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 7, wherein the strip is symmetricalabout a fixed midpoint thereof, each 5 6 end thereof having the form ofa raised platform from 2,887,823 5/1959 Vaughan 46-201 which twovertical plates depend, and wherein the lower- 3,063,194 11/ 1962Berguerand 46-201 most edges of one pair of said vertical plates contactsaid one axle at relatively opposite sides of said point. LOUIS MANCENE,Primary EXamiHel' References Cited 5 CHARLES R. WENTZEL, AssistantExaminer UNITED STATES PATENTS U.S. C1. X.R.

2,260,679 10/1941 Neilson 46 221 46-221

